BACKGROUND Large conductance calcium-activated potassium channel (BKCa) plays an important role in the control of uterine contractility during pregnancy. The change from uterine quiescence to enhanced contractile activity may be associated with the spatial and temporal expression of BKCa within myometrium. The objectives of this study were to examine the expression of BKCa alpha- and beta-subun...

Prostaglandins (PGs) are important factors in the physiology of human parturition and the control of uterine contractility. We have characterized the expression of 15 genes from all stages of the PG pathway in human pregnant and non-pregnant (NP) myometrium and in other uterine tissues at delivery, and the results show patterns indicative of different capacities for PG synthesis and catabolism ...

BACKGROUND The potential mechanism of malignant transformation from leiomyoma to leiomyosarcoma is still debated. The aim was the evaluation of expression patterns of mucin-1 (MUC1) (MUC1 VU-4-H5), galectin-1 (Gal-1) and galectin-3 (Gal-3) in human myometrium and leiomyoma and in comparison to leiomyosarcoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS Myometrium, leiomyoma and leiomyosarcoma tissues were obtained...

The mechanisms that maintain relative uterine quiescence during pregnancy remain largely unknown. A possible role for nitric oxide has recently emerged, however, the expression of nitric oxide synthase within human myometrium at midgestation, a time when the uterus is normally quiescent, has not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to identify cell types in human myometrium that con...

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is a potent vasodilator and relaxes smooth muscle of a variety of tissues, but the effects of CGRP on human myometrial contractions and the changes in CGRP receptors (CGRP-Rs) in human myometrium have not been described. We report that CGRP induced dose-dependent relaxation in spontaneously contracting myometrium from pregnant women. This relaxation effect...

Objectives: To study the histomorphological features of variants of leiomyomas of myometrium in our institution from hysterectomy and myomectomy specimens. Methods: In this prospective study, 1,845 hysterectomy and myomectomy specimens collected over a period of two years were studied. A detailed gross and microscopic examination of tumors of myometrium were made after fixing and staining the s...

Uterine leiomyomas are the most common uterine tumors in women. Estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-alpha) is more highly expressed in uterine leiomyomas than in normal myometrium, suggesting a link between uterine leiomyomas and ER-alpha expression. DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism of gene regulation and plays important roles in normal embryonic development and in disease progression includi...

BACKGROUND Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and CRH-related peptide are shown to modulate uterine contractility through two CRH receptor subtype, CRH-R1 and CRH-R2 during pregnancy. Through different signaling pathways, CRH-R1 maintains myometrial quiescence whereas CRH-R2 promotes smooth muscle contractility. We hypothesized that the expression of CRH receptors in myometrium might be chan...